A week ahead of the Trump-Xi summit in Beijing, the U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a warning on May 5 while Chinese military vessels and aircraft continued to operate around Taiwan.
The U.S. President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit Beijing from May 14 to 15 and Rubio warned that no actions should be taken that could “destabilize” Taiwan in the week leading up to Trump’s visit. He noted that Taiwan could be included as a topic in the upcoming Trump–Xi meeting.
At a White House press briefing, Rubio said: “I’m sure Taiwan will be a topic of conversation. It always is. As you know, we understand – the Chinese understand our position on that topic; we understand theirs.”
Rubio added that both countries recognize that instability in any region is not in either side’s interest, emphasizing the importance of maintaining regional stability.
He reiterated that Taiwan remains a sensitive and recurring topic in U.S.–China dialogue, especially ahead of high-level meetings between Washington and Beijing, and stressed the need to avoid any escalation that could increase tensions in the region.
Success
You are now signed up for our newsletter
Success
Check your email to complete sign up
Rubio said: “We don’t need any destabilizing events to occur with regards to Taiwan or anywhere in the Indo-Pacific. And I think that’s to the mutual benefit of both the United States and the Chinese.”
In recent years, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has strengthened its military presence around Taiwan and employed so-called “gray zone” tactics and systematic infiltration efforts aimed at weakening Taiwan’s public morale and defensive capabilities.
Key threats include frequent military aircraft and naval vessels operating around Taiwan, crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait, large-scale military exercises encircling the island, Chinese Coast Guard incursions into restricted waters near outlying islands, cognitive warfare and disinformation campaigns, systematic infiltration, and economic coercion.
Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said in a release on Tuesday that from 6 a.m. on May 4 to 6 a.m. on May 5, it detected 6 Chinese naval vessels, 1 government vessel, and 1 aircraft entering Taiwan’s northern airspace, continuing active operations around the Taiwan Strait.
Information warfare using Taiwanese voices
During large-scale Chinese military exercises around Taiwan in December last year, the PLA also conducted psychological operations using smartphone screens. Through social media platforms such as Douyin and YouTube, it leveraged local Taiwanese voices to conduct information warfare against Taiwan, reported Reuters.
The report stated that on China’s Douyin platform, a Chinese Communist Party-affiliated news outlet released a 51-second video featuring comments by Kuomintang Chairperson Cheng Li-wen, in which she accused Taiwan President Lai Ching-te of provoking Chinese aggression. Cheng reportedly said in December last year that Lai’s pursuit of Taiwan independence has “blocked his own path and insists on going to the end, dragging 23 million people in Taiwan with him.”
The video soon circulated on popular social media platforms in Taiwan, including Facebook and YouTube.
According to five Taiwanese security officials and data provided to Reuters by the Information Operations Research Group (IORG), Chinese state media, along with online influencers and political figures linked to the Kuomintang, have increasingly amplified critical voices within Taiwan against the ruling Democratic Progressive Party.
Chinese state media and affiliated networks are reported to make use of statements from Kuomintang (KMT) and other opposition figures criticizing the Taiwanese government, amplifying them through official Chinese outlets and social media platforms. These videos are then reposted or repackaged and circulated on platforms commonly used in Taiwan, including Facebook, Douyin, TikTok, and YouTube. In some cases, they are edited or framed in ways that obscure or conceal the involvement of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
By using familiar voices and accents, the content is designed to appear more credible to local audiences. The aim, according to the report, is to discredit and undermine Taiwan’s government.
Against the backdrop of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) seeking an additional US$40 billion in defense spending, these efforts are also intended to persuade the Taiwanese public that China’s military power is overwhelming, and that further large-scale purchases of U.S. weapons would be futile.
The report states that as the CCP continues preparations for potential military contingencies involving Taiwan, information warfare has become a key component of Beijing’s strategy to weaken Taiwan without direct military force. In this context, it argues that the KMT provides a convenient entry point, as the opposition party seeks to strengthen engagement with Beijing in order to avoid what it describes as a crisis worsened by DPP “provocations.”
Cheng Li-wen most frequently featured in Chinese videos
According to Reuters 1,076 CCP-affiliated media accounts released around 560,000 videos in the fourth quarter of last year, of which approximately 18,000 were related to Taiwan.
The Information Operations Research Group (IORG) used facial recognition technology to identify 57 Taiwanese individuals appearing in 2,730 videos. This finding was verified by researchers and reviewed by Reuters.
Compared with the same period the previous year, the number of videos featuring Taiwanese individuals more than doubled between October and November last year, while total monthly viewing time increased significantly, by 164 percent to 369 minutes.
Reuters reported that among the 25 Taiwanese individuals most frequently featured in Chinese-produced videos, 13 were either sitting KMT legislators, party officials, or former government figures from the party’s period in power. Two others led smaller pro-unification parties, while the remaining 10 were online influencers who are known for their criticism of the DPP.
The Taiwanese figure ranked first in Chinese-produced videos was Cheng Li-wen. She appeared in 460 videos across 68 Douyin accounts, generating more than 5 million interactions, including likes, comments, and shares.
Reuters reported that these videos amplified Cheng’s calls for cross-strait peace, her criticism of President Lai as a “pawn of external forces,” and her claims that the Democratic Progressive Party’s pro-independence stance is destructive. The content is first aired on Chinese state media and social media platforms, with some videos later repackaged and reposted to popular platforms in Taiwan.
In January this year, Taiwan’s National Security Bureau released a report stating that more than 45,000 fake social media accounts and 2.3 million pieces of disinformation related to cross-strait issues were detected last year. The report described Beijing’s information warfare objectives as deepening internal divisions in Taiwan, weakening public will to resist, and increasing support for pro-China positions.
By Li Jingyao, Vision Times
